Hit by Cyclone Bulbul: Govt to help 50,000 farmers recover losses
Crops worth Tk 263cr damaged
The government is considering schemes to help more than 50,000 farmers affected by cyclone Bulbul in southern districts, said Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque yesterday.
“There has been discussion with the finance ministry to help farmers recover their losses. Agricultural rehabilitation activities will start in the affected areas soon after we get allocation from the finance ministry,” he said during a press conference organised at his secretariat office to share the ministry’s preliminary estimate of damage to crops.
The ministry said crops on 22,836 hectares were damaged by the November-10 cyclone, resulting in the loss of 72,200 tonnes of crops worth about Tk 263 crore.
The ministry estimated that damage to winter vegetables alone was worth Tk 79 crore followed by aman paddy Tk 47 crore. There was damage to lentil, mustard, betel leaf and other crops too.
However, the minister said crops on 2.89 lakh hectares in 16 southern districts were affected but the level of damage was not significant.
Razzaque said his ministry was yet to finalise the amount of money required for rehabilitation of the farmers.
“We will send a concrete proposal with fund requirements to the finance ministry within couple of days,” he said.
Responding to a question on the loss of aman paddy, the minister said the level of damage varied. The loss was not that high and there would be no impact on prices of rice, he said, adding that overall yield of aman would be good.
Aman is responsible for around 38 percent of the total annual rice output and it is the main crop for farmers in southern districts, particularly Patuakhali and Barguna.
Abul Hasan, a farmer at Boloikathi, told our Patuakhali correspondent that he had aman paddy on an acre and half.
“Most of the paddy in my field was damaged by the cyclone and inundation.”
Md Mizanur Rahman, deputy director at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Barguna, said they were suggesting farmers on how to take care of the affected crops and reduce losses.